


On the Other Side of the Anomaly

by Lord Valerius (ModernSorcerer)



Category: Primeval
Genre: Alternate Universe - Time Travel, BAMF Connor Temple, Pre-Slash, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-09
Updated: 2015-12-09
Packaged: 2018-05-05 19:49:59
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,503
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5388107
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ModernSorcerer/pseuds/Lord%20Valerius
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After stepping through the anomaly into the alternate timeline with the A.R.C and without Claudia Brown, Nick Cutter finds that something - someone - else is missing from his life... until they're sliding back into it with snarling raptors on their tails and a serious case of kleptomania. And now they're back, Nick ain't so willing to let them go again.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter One

In Professor Nick Cutter’s defence, he had a pretty good reason not to notice it right away.

Not only did he have to deal with the guilt of losing Captain Ryan to the Predator, with the shock and confusion of Claudia Brown apparently vanishing into thin air, but he also had to try fight the urge to punch his ex-best friend in the face for sleeping with his wife.

And ‘ex-best friend’ made him sound like a petulant teenager who didn’t get their way, but it was really the only thing he could think about when even the name ‘Stephen’ made him want to pull the other Home Security car over just so he could hit the man.

But now here he was, standing in the new (to him at least) Anomaly Research Centre, watching Lester talking to some slimy-looking suit while Abby and Stephen whispered to each other in the corner quietly – as if he _couldn’t_ see the concerned looks they were sending him. As he tried to ignore both pairs, Nick found himself looking around the room suspiciously, taking in the hustle of scientists running back and forth among the armed security guards patrolling the building.

It was off… something was wrong. Stephen (the cheating bastard) often said that silence in a forest meant there was a predator afoot, but he knew this wasn’t the case… silence here meant…

“OH _BLOODY_ HELL!”

“What now Professor?” Lester demanded, turning a scowl on Nick as he and the slimy man exchanged a frustrated look.

“Did we forget Connor at the anomaly _again_?” Nick shouted over to the startled Abby, “I thought I told you to keep him on a leash!”

“What?”

“Oh dear God,” Lester exhaled as Nick look between his confused ‘team’, “There’s another one”.

“Another what? Anomaly?”

Lester rolled his eyes, “First this ‘Claudia’ woman and now a ‘Connor’? Who next Professor? Perhaps the Queen fell through an anomaly as well and joined the A.R.C? Or did your lovely wife have a child she’s raised on the run through time-travelling anomalies?” the man drawled sarcastically. “No, never mind,” he interrupted, “I don’t want to know, go see a psychologist,” he ordered, waving his hand dismissively as he turned and stomped off.

“So who’s Connor then?” Abby’s voice asked as Nick gaped after the Suit. “Another scientist?”

“Not yet,” Nick corrected absently, turning to eye the two of them cautiously only to find both Abby and Stephen sending him the same look. “You _live_ with him, Abby, how can you not know who Connor is?”

“Abby lives with her _boyfriend_ ,” Stephen interrupted slowly.

“Shut up traitor,” Nick snapped automatically, making the man flinch back with a wounded look on his face.

“Wait!” Abby exclaimed happily, her eyes widening as she perked up, “There’s a ‘Connor’ down in the Tech department!”

Unable to stop himself from perking up as well, Nick ignored Stephen’s hurt look (because he deserved it) and stepped closer to Abby. “Is he around _his_ height?” he asked, jabbing his thumb towards the hunter, “Medium-length black hair? Strangely addicted to fingerless gloves and is utterly _obsessed_ with sci-fi and comic books?”

“Well he has black hair?” Abby offered as she kind of collapsed in on herself, Nick following suit seconds later. “But he’s _tiny_ and buff, and kind of a dick actually”.

“This is wrong,” Nick exhaled slowly, moving away and beginning to pace automatically, rubbing his chin thoughtfully as he ran through theory after theory. “He’s supposed to be here, he’s been one of us since the very beginning,” he explained as he pretended not to see the look Abby shot Stephen. “He- he’s the one who brought the _first_ anomaly to our attention,” he added to his currently-unliked lab technician.

“Wait you mean that geek that was waving that newspaper in our faces before Home Sec approached us about the anomaly?” Stephen blurted, Nick’s head snapping around fast enough that he winced at the whiplash. “Uh… what was his name again?” the man asked himself, snapping his fingers and frowning, “Something about a temple right?”

“Connor Temple”.

“Yeah! That’s him,” Stephen agreed, pointing at Nick in agreement, an unnaturally hopeful look in his eyes. “We tried to hunt him down after Lester told us about the anomaly remember?”

“ _Tried_?” Nick repeated.

“He went missing,” the tracker confirmed, crossing his arms and nodding. “Nothing was gone from his flat except for him. No signs of a struggle, no clothes packed for a long trip, he was just gone”.

Images flashed through Nick’s mind immediately, pictures of a curious yet naïve Connor eagerly going through the anomaly and getting mauled by the gorgonopsid because he wasn’t prepared. The boy wouldn’t have been prepared for anything he found beyond the anomaly, Nick himself hadn’t been and he’d studied the past for most of his life.

And not only was Connor gone, but the boy he’d been expecting to believe him was gone too. If Connor was here, then Nick could already hear him coming up with some theory regarding aliens or the past being altered by what Nick and Helen had done in the anomaly with the baby… the baby predators…

“The timeline”.

“Professor?”

Glancing over at Lester as the bossy… well boss… returned and crossed his arms as well, Nick sighed and ran his hand through his hair. “When we were back through the anomaly we must have changed the timeline,” he explained slowly when Lester raised his eyebrow expectantly, “It’s the only theory I can come up with to explain this”.

“‘This’ being?” Lester pressed when Nick stopped to think.

“ _This_ ,” the Professor stressed, waving his hand around him wildly. “Before I went through the anomaly there was no A.R.C, we had a Public Relations officer named Claudia Brown, and a student of mine named ‘Connor Temple’ brought the anomalies to our attention in the first place”.

“And now you’ve come back through there _is_ an A.R.C, Claudia Brown doesn’t exist, and Connor Temple has vanished,” Stephen finished for him, reminding Nick that even though he slept with Helen he was still an otherwise smart man (who slept with Helen).

“Well this is bloody marvellous,” Lester murmured, his words muffled by the hand he was dragging down his face. “Undeniable proof that the timeline _can_ be altered, what a perfect way to end the day”.

Ignoring the man’s whining, Nick just started pacing again, frowning to himself as he went over their previous ‘adventures’ again. “Abby, what happened at the reservoir?” he questioned, turning to stare at the confused blonde, “When you were taking water samples and the mosasaur attacked you?”

“Oh uh, I um,” she stuttered before clearing her throat, clearly unhappy about being put on the spot like that. “You ordered two men to watch me when I went in, they spotted the mosasaur early and called me back to shore,” Abby explained quickly before frowning, “Why? What happened with Connor?”

“He fought it off with an oar,” Nick answered dismissively, “What about the anthropleura? He was the one to identify that it was a burrower, without him you would be dead,” he explained as he turned to Stephen.

“I spent two weeks in hospital because it took you hours to find the hole and my right leg was paralyzed for that long,” the man replied immediately.

“Are we done with the show and tell now gentlemen?” Lester interrupted impatiently, “Because we have a vicious animal reported to be running around a shopping mall near central London if so, but I’m sure it’ll be happy to wait until you’re ready”.

“At least some things haven’t changed,” Nick announced, “I still think you’re a sarcastic twat”.

“Flattery will get you everywhere,” Lester drawled, “Now get out before I dock your pay”.

 

* * *

 

Raptors. There were r _aptors_ in the Castle Cross Shopping Centre.

Dammit his Connor would have _loved_ to have been here to see this.

At least with Connor around Nick wouldn’t have been stuck with Stephen following him around like a puppy hoping for forgiveness. He would have preferred Connor’s endless yet comforting babbling to dealing with Stephen right now, he didn’t want to think about his best friend’s betrayal at a time like this when the slightest mistake could result in a raptor gnawing on his innards.

Hell, that image was preferable to being in Stephen’s company right now.

Turning away from the anomaly behind the bowling rink (and stubbornly reminding himself that he couldn’t just run through it and fix the timeline like he so wished he could), Nick ignored Stephen and stalked away from him, ears primed for any noise from the raptor as his hand brushed against the gun shoved in the waistband of his jeans.

Hopefully Abby was alright on her own, surely the security room was a safe place for her, that door had been _covered_ in locks after all. Not that raptors used doors, but still... he didn’t think he could lose another person right now.

As if waiting for him to think that a loud hissing noise echoed down the hallway, Nick unable to stop himself from exchanging a look with Stephen as he heard Abby’s scream, both of them breaking into a sprint immediately.

Footsteps echoing across the tiled floor as he ran, Nick burst around the corner and raised the gun automatically, eyes flicking across Abby where she was cowering near the lowered shutter and Connor where he was lying on the floor, clearly having slid under to avoid the raptor that was slamming on the – CONNOR!

“No! I dropped my slushy”.

“CONNOR!”

Staring as the familiar man flailed on the ground, Nick watched as his apparently ‘missing’ student froze and held his head with a groan. “Ow… brain freeze,” he whined, startling a laugh from a shocked Nick’s throat at the purely ‘Connor’ comment. “What’re _you_ laughing at?” Connor demanded with a half-scowl half-grin.

“Oh God, Connor, I missed you,” Nick blurted, faltering as only confusion flashed across the now rising man’s face.

“Do I know you?”

Blinking in shock at the unexpected question, Nick paused and slowly took in the man again.

This wasn’t Connor, not his Connor at least. _His_ Connor didn’t wear what looked like dino-leather pants after all, nor did he have several knives strapped to his body overtop of what looked to be an old t-shirt under a matching dino-leather vest. _His_ Connor didn’t have an alarming scar tracing from the curl of his jaw down his throat and under the neck of his shirt. And _his_ Connor never looked at him with so much sheer indifference.

“You look kinda familiar, I _do_ know you don’t I?” Connor continued as Nick just stared, “You weren’t my landlord were you? Because I totally didn’t pay my rent this month, or the month before that, or the month before _that_ … I haven’t paid my rent in a while actually”.

“Wait… _this_ is Connor?” Abby interrupted, “I thought you said he was a geek?”

“He _was_ ,” Stephen replied absently, Nick looking over and groaning aloud at the appraising look on the man’s face.

“Don’t you think that your dick has gotten you into enough trouble already?” Nick snapped, making his former friend flinch back again. “Just keep it in your pants and away from Connor,” he muttered darkly as he pushed past Stephen and approached his student – who was gone.

“Uh, Professor?”

Following the Abby’s shocked look, Nick blinked in confusion at the sight of Connor wiggling his way into a vent, mouth falling open slightly as the man vanished into the darkness in seconds. “There’s a flock of raptors around a twenty-minute walk from the anomaly,” the man’s voice echoed out of the vent, “And more than one chased me through it, so I would hide if I were you”.

Not giving himself time to talk himself out of it, Nick rushed forward and scaled the wall, latching onto the lip of Connor’s vent and grunting as he pulled himself up. “I thought it was a raptor _pack_ , not a flock,” he rasped out as he climbed into the vent after Connor, following the sounds of the shuffling man as someone else scrambled up after him.

“Well _I_ thought raptors were the ancestor of most modern-day birds,” Connor’s voice shot back, the man stopping somewhere ahead, “So unless you have a pack of geese then I’m going to go with a flock of raptors. Besides, you’ve never seen them bathe mate, they’re totally birds”.

Muffling a snort as he almost crawled into the man, Nick stopped and watched as Connor twisted and bent until he could slam his feet into something on the vent wall.

“Don’t follow me,” the black-haired man ordered bluntly as a vent cover fell to the floor, Connor sliding out of the vent even as light illuminated the vent from behind him.

“Stephen’s climbing in behind me,” Abby reported as she reached him, a small wind-up torch in her hands. “So that’s Connor huh?” she added curiously as Nick moved forward and turned around, both of them peering through the vent opening to see Connor unashamedly holding a shirt up against his chest before shoving it down his pants, “Does he do this sort of thing often?”

Just staring blankly at the innocently-smiling woman, Nick shook his head as she stuck her own out the vent entrance and said “I hope you’re going to pay for that”.

Heart skipping a beat as Connor shot Abby his usual grin (thank God somethings _hadn’t_ changed about him), Nick watched as Connor checked the price tag on the shirt and shrug. “I will if you lend me a fiver,” the man-boy responded, “Or a couple of fivers, for some reason it’s hard to find an ATM when you’re living in the Cretaceous period and I’m almost out of shirts”.

“Don’t look at me,” Nick deadpanned as Abby shot him a hopeful look.

“We’ll just put it on Lester’s tab,” the blonde decided as they both turned to see Connor crafting a makeshift bag out of an extra-large shirt and shoving more clothes into it. “You know, if you came back to the A.R.C with us you could have a shower,” she offered casually.

“ _Or_ I could go have one in the river next to my tree,” Connor countered over his shoulder, “I’m only here because the raptors chased me through, that and I’m out of undies”.

“Oh, those are in that corner,” Abby replied automatically before stopping with a grimace, “Does this make me an accessory to crime?”

“Depends on whether or not Connor’s been declared dead yet,” Stephen’s voice called up the vent, making Nick grimace.

“You should really forgive him you know,” Abby whispered, “Or at least pretend you do,” she corrected when Nick glared. “It _was_ eight years ago now, and he’s obviously feeling guilty about it”.

“I really am”.

“I’m not talking about this right now,” Nick dismissed sternly, glaring at Abby when she opened her mouth to argue. “Right now I just want to _hey_!”

Pulling himself out of the vent and yelping as he hit the ground, Nick gasped for the air forced from his lungs as he struggled to his feet and staggered towards the shop door Connor had just vanished through.

“Dammit Connor! Just wait a damn minute!” the Professor rasped out as he chased after his student.

Skidding to a halt obediently, Connor raised an eyebrow at Nick before peering around the corner cautiously, breaking into an easy lope as he crossed the food court. “So how do you know me? Ooh! Please tell me you meet me in the future, or _my_ future,” he chirped excitedly, looking for a moment as if he was back to the Connor Nick remembered, “Like I go through another anomaly in a year or so and meet you guys and like help you do whatever it is you do. What _do_ you guys do anyway?” he added, pausing and looking back at Nick who was barely keeping pace, “Like, what are you even doing here?”

“We work for the Anomaly Research Centre, locating and securing anomalies before people get hurt,” Nick paused and grin, “We’re like ‘Torchwood’”.

Connor froze and looked back at him with wide eyes, “Cool”.

“Ain’t it?” Nick agreed, grinning back at the boy, silently relieved to see that Connor was still himself somewhere inside.

Whatever Connor had been about to say was cut off by a familiar rattling hiss, Nick watching as the grin was replaced by a hardened expression as Connor dropped into a low crouch and tilted his head to listen.

Trying to copy the boy’s movements, Nick edged forward as Connor looked around the corner, a hand raising to smush into Nick’s face as Connor held him back. Squatting there awkwardly with one eye closed against a dirty finger, he stayed there stiffly until Connor was gone suddenly crab-walking across the floor with a grace the old Connor had never possessed.

“So how do you know me anyway?”

“Depends, short answer or long one?” Nick countered as he followed Connor down the corridor parallel to the one the raptor was in. Looking over his shoulder to try spot either Stephen or Abby, he froze as he turned back to see Connor raising an unimpressed eyebrow at him.

“Long story short. I went through an anomaly and something happened, when I came back the A.R.C existed, my girlfriend didn’t, and you had vanished shortly after we first met,” Nick confessed in one breath, Connor blinking at him in shock.

“Well damn, I don’t want to know how many things _I’ve_ changed then,” the other man muttered.

“You believe me?”

Connor fixed him with that same unimpressed look again. “Of course I do, why wouldn’t I? I saw it on a TV show once”.

And with that Connor was gone again, bounding off down the walkway with a spring to his step. “From what I found out,” Nick continued after he caught up, the two of them making sure it was clear before moving past an arcade towards an area he was sure he’d been in before. “In this timeline Stephen and I ignored you when you approached us about the anomaly, and then once Home Office came to us with the same findings we tried to find you but you’d gone missing. Through the anomaly I presume”.

“And in your old timeline?”

“We believed you, met Home Office at the anomaly site, and we all formed a team to study anomalies and control them,” Nick confessed, sticking close to Connor as they moved.

It may not be _his_ Connor, but it was still Connor. And this Connor believed his theory about changing the timeline where Abby and Stephen didn’t. No matter how it sounded, right now he just wanted the comfort of being around something familiar, and his ‘old friends’ were treating him like he was made of glass while Connor didn’t seem to care about him at all.

Why did he want to be around Connor again?

“Ooh!”

Sighing as he followed Connor into the electronics department of the shopping centre, Nick just cleared his throat loudly. “I may not have stopped you from taking clothes,” he began, gesturing to the ‘bag’ of clothing strapped to Connor’s back with a scarf, “But I can’t let you help yourself to a laptop or phone or whatever”.

Gaping as Connor turned his back on him with a roll of his eyes and started off again, Nick gave chase once more, any complaints he could have made vanishing as they turned into a row of radios.

“Can I have a radio?”

“What’s wrong with them?” Nick questioned as he looked up and down the aisle of radios, _all_ of them letting out soft static-like sound.

“The anomalies give off electromagnetic interference,” Connor answered absently, too busy inspecting the smaller hand-held radios to look up at him. “Give me the supplies and an hour and I can track them with a radio by using the static as an indicator, even _without_ having radio-waves around”.

“Of course,” the Professor exhaled loudly, staring at Connor with a grin as he reached out to clap him on the shoulder. “You’re only back for half an hour and you’re already proving yourself”.

Grin failing as Connor just brushed his hand away, Nick watched as the man shook his head and shoved two smaller radios into his pockets. “I’m not proving myself to you, Professor,” he dismissed, “I gave up on that when I realised I can’t distract a t-rex by being popular”.

“You were never popular, Connor,” Nick corrected before he could stop himself.

“Exactly”.

“Come back to the A.R.C with us,” he blurted as Connor started walking away, “Where you belong”.

A snort echoing through the air, Nick flinched as Connor turned a dark look on him. “I _belong_?” the young man growled out, stepping forward and baring his teeth dangerously, “ _I belong_? ‘Leave kid, you don’t belong here, try I.T instead’, do those words mean anything to you?” he demanded angrily, “Well they _should_! Because that’s what _you_ told me when I came to you all those months ago!”

“I didn’t say that!” Nick argued weakly, hiding the urge to flinch because he _had_ been going to say that to Connor when they first met. “This timeline’s Nick Cutter did, but _I_ didn’t! I believed in you, and I _still_ do! You belong with us, Connor, with the team”.


	2. Chapter Two

“So… Helen?”

“I don’t want to talk about this, Abby,” Stephen Hart answered with a sigh, “I was young, stupid, and easily seduced by a nice arse and huge tits”.

“Oh… well since we’re talking about it anyway…”

“No Abby,” Stephen interrupted, turning a warning look on the excited blonde. “I wanted to tell Nick the moment it happened the first time, but Helen got into my head and convinced me not to”.

“How?”

Sighing as he came to a stop at the corner and peered around, Stephen shook his head. “She told me they were getting divorced,” he confessed, “And after a week of watching Nick sleeping in his office I believed her. Then she asked me not to tell Nick until I wasn’t working for him anymore, she said that he’d be jealous and would punish me for it, would fire or fail me”

“And you believed her?” Abby pressed.

“Obviously”.

Ignoring the annoyed noise she made behind him, Stephen adjusted his grip on his rifle and started moving forward, eyes searching the shadows for even hint of a raptor. He wasn’t going to let Abby get pounced by a raptor on his watch, not when he needed to tread on broken glass around Nick because of Helen anyway, and getting the Professor’s quasi-daughter killed because he wasn’t paying attention would _not_ get him back in Nick’s good graces. And despite the way the man had seemingly had a mental breakdown with all this Claudia-Connor stuff – even though Connor was actually real – he still cared enough about his best friend to not want to give up on their relationship.

“Fine. If you don’t want to talk about Helen, then let’s talk about Connor instead,” Abby declared, clearly not caring that they were being hunting by raptors.

“What is there to talk about?” Stephen replied, deciding that keeping Abby talking would prevent her from realising their situation and freaking out. “He’s real, unlike that ‘Claudia’”.

“Makes me wonder if the Professor is telling the truth though,” Abby admitted, “His whole ‘changing the timeline’ idea isn’t actually that far off, there are books and movies about it right?”

“It _is_ the reason he doesn’t like us killing the creatures that come through the anomalies,” Stephen agreed unhappily. “But let’s say it’s true, wouldn’t the creatures coming through in the _first place_ change the timelines?”

“Not if the creatures coming through was _part_ of the timelines, that they had already coming through in the past but the future hadn’t caught up yet,” Abby insisted knowingly, “Oh that’s a lovely dress!”

“Abby! Focus,” he ordered, glancing over at the woman who just waved a hand at him dismissively, too busy rushing over to inspect a dress hanging in the window of a store. “We’re being hunting by an unknown number of raptors remember? Connor mentioned there was a whole pack of them”.

And there went his plan to keep Abby from freaking out.

Thankfully though, aside from paling slightly Abby didn’t react beyond nodding her head and pulling herself away from the window. “Right… we need to find the anomaly and then go from there,” she said bravely, pulling her own gun from her waistband.

“We’re heading back towards the security office,” Stephen corrected, looking around to make sure they were alone, “I thought we should find Nick and Connor on the cameras and regroup. It’s safer together and they’ve only got one handgun between them”.

As Abby nodded and strode off like a woman on a mission, Stephen grinned and jogged after her, reaching down to pat the pistol he had shoved down the back of his jeans. At least they had two handguns and a rifle, Cutter had nothing but a handgun he really couldn’t use… he hoped they were okay.

“So… Connor”.

“Didn’t we just discuss this?” Stephen asked, glancing over at the innocent-looking Abby.

Slyly, Abby just shrugged. “He’s cute isn’t he? Once he showered and cut his hair at least. And those _arms_ , just the right mixture of strong just slim aren’t they? Probably from his time in the past”.

“You’ve already got a boyfriend, remember?” Stephen pointed out, refusing to verbalize his agreement.

“Oh I do… but you don’t”.

Almost tripping over his own feet, Stephen brought the rifle up and looked around cautiously, pretending not to see the smirk on the blonde’s face. “I don’t date guys, Abby,” he corrected bluntly.

“You and Allison broke up didn’t you?” she argued.

“Doesn’t mean I’m interested in dating a man, Abby. One break-up doesn’t a homo make”.

“Oh I didn’t say you were gay, Stephen,” Abby giggled knowingly, “But you were _totally_ checking Connor out, even Cutter noticed it”.

“I don’t date guys,” he repeated.

“What _do_ you do to guys then?”

Unable to stop himself from smirking dirtily at Abby, Stephen just winked as she blushed before jogging off down the corridor towards the security office, leaving the blonde spluttering behind him. It didn’t take him long to find Nick and Connor on the monitors once he reached them, spotting the two of them sprinting down a path towards the office as if they’d had the same idea as him.

Stiffening as a raptor shot past the camera right after them, Stephen spun around and surged out of the office, latching onto a squealing Abby’s arm and shoving her inside. Dropping to one knee and raising the rifle again, he stopped to take a deep breath as Connor and Nick burst around the corner, the older man running straight towards him as Connor took a different route and just _vaulted over the second floor railing_.

“SHOOT IT! JUST SHOOT IT!”

Tearing his attention away from where Connor had once stood, Stephen just took careful aim at the charging raptor and fired, feeling his stomach drop seconds later as a loud _click_ echoed from the rifle’s firing chamber. Cursing loudly as he shook the rifle and slammed it against the ground desperately, he could only watch as the raptor gained on Nick easily, a silenced gunshot making him drop the recoiling rifle.

 

* * *

 

His fingers were slipping.

Shuffling awkwardly to keep his grip, Connor waited until he heard his name being called before moving, grunting as he climbed up the side of the railing again from where he was holding onto the lip of the second floor walkway.

“Well, that was exciting,” he chirped as he hooked his arms over the rail and pulled himself up, yelping as he overbalanced and went tumbling over the other side. “Almost as fun as Torchwood!” he added from the floor as he pushed himself up to his feet.

“Whoa… what happened to him?”

“I uh… I shot him,” the model-wannabe holding the rifle admitted sheepishly as the pretty blonde glared at him. “The gun jammed! It’s not my fault!” he defended quickly as the blonde’s eyes narrowed, “I still got the raptor though”.

Moments like this were ones that made him glad he’d gone through a hole in the space-time continuum, people could be such dicks to each other. And even if these two were the ‘A.R.C team’ or whatever his old Professor had called them, it didn’t mean anything. Especially since with the glares he’d watched Professor Cutter constantly sending the man’s way kind of implied that they weren’t particularly close.

Some ‘team’ they were.

Huh. Would Connor have time to swing by the food court before the ‘anomaly’ closed? He’d kill for a burger right now.

“Hey! Hey! CONNOR!”

“Why don’t you scream a little louder,” he shouted sarcastically over his shoulder, “I don’t think the other raptors heard you!”

Why was he complaining? They could scream and shout all they wanted, leading the raptors away from the anomaly (or whatever it was called) thus leaving it clear for him to sneak back through. Connor would need a head-start to pack up his camp and move it away from raptor territory anyway, no way he was staying near a bloody flock of the bastards.

Biting his tongue as the woman caught up with him, he glared as she jumped in front of him and beamed. “Abby,” she introduced, thrusting her hand out between them, “Abby Maitland”.

“Connor,” he replied, shaking her hand (because his mother taught him how to be a gentleman). “Move please”.

‘Abby’ didn’t look at all bothered by his request, nor did she seem at all interested in listening to it as she hooked her arm around his and turned them both around, dragging him back towards where the man was dragging the Professor into the room they’d come from earlier.

“Uh, you don’t mind letting me go do ya?” Connor asked hopefully, smiling innocently at Abby as he shot her his best puppy-dog eyes. “I’ve got an anomaly to catch if I don’t want to be stuck in this time”.

“Why _don’t_ you want to be stuck in this time?” Abby asked immediately, “This time has hamburgers”.

Glaring down at his traitorously rumbling stomach, Connor turned his puppy-eyes on the man instead, hiding his smirk as surprisingly the man fell for them.

“Come on Abs, we can’t exactly force him to stay if he doesn’t want to”.

“Yes we can Stephen, he led the raptors here, he can lead them out,” the blonde said smugly. “Don’t bother trying to lie to me,” she interrupted as Connor opened his mouth to do just that, “You confessed earlier that they’d followed you through the anomaly”.

“Well yeah but-”.

“And you’ve been travelling through the anomaly for years, so you’ve got to know something about them,” Abby continued.

“Months. I’ve been travelling through the anomalies for months,” he clarified when Abby and Stephen both raised their eyebrows at him, “My watch batteries can last up to two years,” he explained as he raised his free hand to show them.

“I’ve already told the Professor how to track anomalies, isn’t that enough for you?” Connor tried hopefully.

“You know Lester won’t let him just leave,” Abby stated simply, turning to stare at Stephen expectantly, “He wants all the information he can get”.

“What if I give you all the information I have and _then_ leave?”

“So we just drag him back to the A.R.C kicking and screaming?” Stephen asked with a scoff.

“He has a point; I have a very mean kick”.

“Or we could use these,” Abby countered, suddenly pulling a gun out and waving it in Connor’s face.

“Whoa! Whoa! Okay! I’ll help, I’ll help!” he blurted quickly, eyeing the gun in the smirking blonde’s hands nervously.

Hmmm… maybe he could pocket one of those before he sneaks back through. Because seriously, he was going to sneak back through the anomaly, he was _not_ going to stay in his own time we he had all of the past to explore. (That he’d chickened out when he first started and would have gone back if the anomaly hadn’t closed behind him was irrelevant because no one but him knew about that and he wasn’t talking). And he’d already looted the store for the basics he needed, so all it would take would be a stop by the food department and then he could ‘borrow’ a gun and be gone into the past before any of them could stop him.

“Just so you know, I have a black belt and I’m not afraid to use it,” Abby said with a smirk, turning back to Stephen who was inspecting the wall of security camera monitors. “What now? We’ve got one raptor and no Cutter”.

“We don’t need Cutter, we need some kind of trolley to carry the raptor, and then we need to roll it back through the anomaly,” Stephen corrected with a shake of his head.

“And what about the second raptor?” Connor piped up.

“What second raptor?”

“That one,” he said pointing at the screen.

As Stephen and Abby turned as one to stare at the screen, Connor swept down to snatch up the gun he could see sticking out of the Professor’s pants, subtly shoving down the back of his own and lifting his shirt over to cover it.

Oh yeah, he was totally a ninja.

“That one,” he repeated the raptor made an appearance on another monitor, “That one… that one… that one”.

“Connor! Shut up!” Stephen snapped, turning a glare on him and making him smile innocently.

Actually, he had a better plan.

“The raptor is waving at the camera,” he reported, making Stephen spin around.

_THUD_

_THUD_

“Oops,” he deadpanned, staring down at the pistol in his hands, “No! Naughty! Bad gun!”

Smiling innocently again as Abby hit the floor, Connor raised his hand and waved at Stephen as the man staggered slightly, falling against the wall and slowly sliding down it, two tranquilizer darts shining a cheerful orange on their hips.

Hopefully that dosage wasn’t high enough to kill them, but since neither of them were concerned about the Professor it didn’t seem like it.

Whistling cheerfully as he patted them down (and happily pocketing the gum he found in Abby’s pockets), Connor made sure they were all comfortable before unashamedly stealing their guns, leaving the rifle in the snoring Stephen’s hands before leaving the security office. Pulling a stand selling small soft toy souvenirs across to block the door from both the people inside and the dinosaurs outside, Connor tucked the other guns into his pants and started off, humming the ‘ _Mission_ _Impossible_ ’ theme music to himself as he went.

Faltering as he passed the raptor, he stopped and glanced down at it, looking either way before sighing. Crouching down beside its head, Connor slowly reached out and laid his hand on the raptor’s muzzle, grinning to himself at the feel beneath his fingers. Sighing as the raptor shifted in its sleep, he shook his head as reached down to his thigh, steeling himself for a moment before driving his knife down into the raptor’s eye.

He didn’t feel bad about what he’d just done. Not only did dinosaurs try eat him twenty-four seven in the past, but it was a simple matter of survival. He’d gotten over his distaste for killing them after he’d almost been eaten alive the second time. And it wasn’t like he’d not killed a person before, that crazy chick ‘Helen’ had tried to take his anomaly detector and pulled a knife on him… although technically that kill went to the dilophosaurus that had been hunting her since even though _he_ had kicked her out of the tree _it_ still ate her… alive...

And as for what he’d done to his apparent ‘team’, Connor had given up on people after Professor Cutter’s cutting words (Get it?) to him that day back at the University. He’d packed his bags and had gone through the anomaly armed with nothing but his wit, his father’s old hunting knife and a Swiss army knife. And it wasn’t like he’d left them out for the raptors to tear apart, which was more than he could say for them. They wanted to drag him back to the real world, a place he wanted to avoid with all his heart, and they’d leave him for the raptors that were boss-men in suits to tear apart.

Still… they were all kind of unfairly attractive weren’t they? All bar the Professor who just wasn’t his type (too old). They were totally the real-world equivalent of Torchwood, he’d had a phase when he was younger where he was convinced he was going to marry either Toshiko Sato or sleep with Jack Harkness if Toshiko turned him down.

Okay so when he said younger he really meant five years ago, but that was kind of irrelevant.

Their attractiveness wasn’t going to be enough to make him stay, especially since he doubted he’d have a chance with them even if he did – he’d never even had his first kiss after all. But he could admit that he _did_ miss having people around to talk to, rocks just didn’t cut it after a while, and what was the point of being able to time travel if he couldn’t share it with someone?

But _no_ , he couldn’t let himself falter! If he gave up, then there was no hope for him. He’d come on this adventure to make himself smarter, to prove that he belonged and that he wasn’t just some nobody loser. Which hadn’t really worked out for him so far, since most of the dinosaurs he’d come across had been bigger and meaner than him with an unhealthy side dish of _razor sharp teeth_ included.

He was le Connor Temple; Time traveller! He was le Connor Temple; Dinosaur wrangler and extraordinaire!  He was le Connor Temple; Survivalist!

He was le Connor Temple… and he was lost…

 

* * *

 

“This sure would be easier if we had some _guns_ right about now don’t you think?”

“Is this _really_ the time for that Nick?”

Refusing to take his eyes off the raptor trying to circle around them, Nick just let out a loud snort. “Was before really the time to get distracted ogling a college student and let him steal our guns?”

He wasn’t sure what hurt more, that Stephen allowed Connor to ambush them and take their guns (after ‘accidentally’ tranquilizing him) or that Connor had attacked his own team and taken their guns in the first place.

“To be fair he wasn’t ogling Connor,” Abby corrected from between where he and Stephen were shielding her with pool cues, the small blonde struggling to reload the jammed rifle.

Swinging the pool cue when his raptor got to close, Nick snorted again when he heard Stephen agreeing with the blonde. “Oh if I know Stephen, which I thought I did, he’ll sleep with anything that so much as looks at him,” he snapped, swinging a third time and managing to clip the raptor on the tip of its nose.

“I didn’t sleep with you,” Stephen shot back.

“Not like you didn’t try,” Nick couldn’t help but mutter.

“Oh _come on_! Is this really the time?” Abby interrupted, “Break!”

Nick stepping away from Stephen with a scowl, he swung wildly at the raptor and held it back as a bright orange dart appeared in its neck, Abby cheering behind him.

“A little help here Abby!” Stephen shouted, Nick turning and seeing that the other man’s raptor was getting a little _too_ close and personal with the tracker’s arms, the man keeping them barely out of reach of jagged snarling teeth.

Moving forward to help, Nick stepped back in fear as the raptor’s head snapped around and it caught the pool cue in its mouth, tearing it from the Professor’s grip and crunching it in half in one easy movement. Stephen’s pool cue quickly joining it on the floor after his former best friend shattered it over the back of the raptor’s head, Nick swallowed nervously as the raptor ignored his two teammates and instead started after him.

He didn’t wait to see what it wanted, instead turning and sprinting away as the raptor hissed behind him.

He wasn’t going to make it. There was _no way_ that he could escape a raptor when it was this close to him. It was going to sink its teeth into his neck and tear his throat out right in front of Stephen and Abby, neither of whom would be able to stop it in time.

As the raptor slammed into his back and tackled him to the floor, Nick found himself realising a hard truth. He forgave Stephen. He couldn’t blame Stephen when he was just as easily fooled by Helen as all the other men she’d cheated on him with. And why wasn’t the raptor eating him already?

Opening his eyes slowly, Nick blinked in shock at the raptor muzzle leaning over his shoulder and lying on the cold tiled floor, tongue sticking out of its mouth as it lay there breathing slowly with something orange flashing just outside of his vision.

“Oh yeah, I’m awesome. Oh yeah, I’m awesome. Oh yeah, I’m awesome”.

Unable to help himself, Nick burst into (only slightly) hysterical laughter at the sight of Connor standing there with two of their stolen handgun doing some weird little shuffling dance, the man happily singing “Oh yeah, I’m awesome” as Stephen and Abby rolled the raptor off him.

Oh yeah… he _definitely_ missed Connor.


	3. Epilogue

“Oh hello!”

“Connor, you _are_ aware that that’s a man-eating raptor right?”

“It’s not man-eating,” Connor corrected automatically, “There aren’t any men around for it to eat”.

Sighing, Nick shook his head slowly as he watched his once-teammate gently pet the baby raptor in his arms. “When it wakes up and bites your hand off, I’m not going to dissect it so you can have it back”.

“Oh you’re a good friend ain’t ya?” Connor muttered, “Some team leader you are. At least Jack cares about his team’s health. He used a resurrection glove to bring Owen back to life, but you won’t even cut up a dinosaur to get my measly hand back!”

Looking to Stephen and Abby for help, Nick could only sigh again when they both shrugged at him, none of them apparently understanding that reference.

“So Connor, if you ever wanted to re-join civilisation, there’s a paying job waiting for you at the A.R.C on my team,” Nick declared, deciding to just dive straight into it before Connor could turn him down.

“Why would I want to re-join civilisation?”

“Because uh, well…”

“You have a way with words, Professor,” Connor deadpanned, watching as Stephen and Abby vanished into the anomaly with the raptors on the carts. “No wonder you attended all your classes”.

Actually he stopped attending his classes because they were always filled with barely legal girls who wore low-cut tops and fluttered their eyelids at him, not because of any difficulty speaking in front of people. But whatever, it wasn’t like that mattered to Connor either way.

“You’ll have a home, friends, and a job doing what you love,” the Professor tried hopefully. “You’d be on my team out here in the field, and you’d be able to work on making official versions of your little anomaly detector – which would be patented in _your_ name”.

“Thanks, but no thanks Professor,” Connor refused again, standing up as Stephen and Abby dragged the cart back through the anomaly and gave them the all’s clear. “I have a life in the past”.

“But you’ve got to be lonely!” Abby blurted.

Connor just shrugged, putting on what Nick immediately recognised as his tough-guy face. “Considering that the last person I met in the past tried to kill me and take my stuff, I’m okay with being alone”.

“But”.

“I should go,” Connor interrupted, looking at the anomaly, “I want to be long gone before the raptors wake up. So thanks for the job offer, Professor, but…”

Trailing off as he shrugged again, Connor just hefted the baby raptor up onto his shoulder and started towards the anomaly, Nick reaching out to grab Abby’s arm as she tried to run after him.

“It’s his choice,” he whispered to the confused-looking blonde as they watched Connor go.

And then the anomaly closed.

“You know, Professor,” Connor began casually as he blinked between the team and the missing anomaly, “I think I’ll take that job after all”.


End file.
